The judges

Tony O Dalaigh was director of the Dublin Theatre Festival from 1990 until last year

Tony O Dalaigh was director of the Dublin Theatre Festival from 1990 until last year. He is consultant artistic director of Draiocht, Blanchardstown Centre for the Arts. Involved in arts administration for over 30 years, he was private secretary to four ministers for education and was the first chief executive of the Irish Theatre Company. He was director of the National Centre for the Arts from 1986 to 1990. He is a member of the board of the Gate Theatre and a shareholder of the National Theatre Society (Abbey Theatre).

Harold Fish was born on the Isle of Man and brought up in south London. He studied at the universities of Bristol and Lancaster and taught modern languages at the Cathedral School in Bristol for three years before joining the British Council in 1969. He has worked for the council in Peru, northern Italy, Israel, Germany and Argentina. Since July 1994, he has been director of the British Council in Ireland.

Sheila Pratschke is director of Film Institute of Ireland, with responsibility for the Irish Film Archive and Irish Film Centre. She is a council member of the Irish Film & Television Academy and board member of MEDIA Desk Ireland. A graduate of UCD, she worked in the Kerlin Gallery, on the arts training programme ARTFORM and with L'Imaginaire Irlandais before joining the Film Institute of Ireland in 1994.